Transportation Secretary Anthony FoxxAnthony FoxxUS finalizes flights to Cuba’s capital Commercial US flight lands in Cuba for first time in 50 years Feds funnel almost M toward DC Metro safety efforts MORE made the milestone announcement from Cuba after he boarded a 150-passenger JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Santa Clara.
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Lauderdale, FL at 9:45AM, the flight was packed with journalists and dignitaries, including U.S. Transportation secretary Anthony Foxx, who tweeted about his excitement over the trip on Monday.
To commemorate the occasion, the plane received a water cannon salute, which traditionally marks a special occasion for a ship or aircraft. “From a challenge perspective, we know the drill. You don’t even want to know how much I’ve spent on trips to Cuba over the years”.
Cuba’s vice minister of transportation Eduardo Rodriguez gave a press conference on Monday, where he stated that this is a “positive step” and a “concrete contribution” towards the normalization of the relations between the countries.
“The Havana competition was one of the most over-subscribed competitions that I’ve been a part of”, said Mr Foxx.
The Fort Lauderdale airport was in full party mode near Jet Blue’s departure area – a live salsa band blared Cuban favorites as passengers and bystanders broke into spontaneous dances.
Speaking with the New York Times, JetBlue executive vice president Marty St. George pointed out that the last time a regularly scheduled commercial flight left the United States for Cuba, it was on a propellor plane in 1961.
Seattle-based Alaska Airlines today won the federal government’s formal approval to fly between Los Angeles and Havana, on the same day that JetBlue made a historic flight to Cuba.
Time.com reported late last month that the initial JetBlue fares to Cuba will be cheap-starting at $99 one way.
JetBlue will now fly three times a week to Santa Clara until October 29 before scheduling a daily flight.
Over the summer, Cuban airports adopted U.S. security requirements like requiring passengers traveling to the United States to remove their shoes and leave liquids at checkpoints.
Cuban officials insist the commercial flights’ impact will be diminished because of the (still on) USA ban on tourism.
Up to 110 daily flights operated by carriers like JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and Silver airways are expected to start flying between the communist-run country, according to CNN. Cuban Americans visiting family members on the island also get a waiver to fly.
“We’re offering flights to Cuba with competitive prices which will definitely have an impact on the Cuban people”, he said.
On June 10, 2016, the DOT issued an order authorizing six USA airlines to provide scheduled passenger flights between various US cities and cities in Cuba other than Havana.
However, restrictions still apply for USA citizens to freely travel to the island.
However as a trade embargo remains in place, visitors from the USA can’t go as tourists: they must be eligible under one of 12 categories including religious, educational or cultural reasons, the Guardian reports.
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Cuba and the United States began normalising relations in December 2014 after 18 months of secret talks and have since restored full diplomatic ties.
